weariness to the flesh.

Anne Hutchinson's efforts, according to some viewpoints, may have been a
failure, but they revealed in unmistakable manner the emotional
starvation of Puritan womanhood. Women, saddened by their hardships,
depressed by their religion, denied an open love for beauty, with none
of the usual food for imagination or the common outlets for emotions,
such as the modern woman has in her magazines, books, theatre and social
functions, flocked with eagerness to hear this feminine radical. They
seemed to realize that their souls were starving for something--they may
not have known exactly what. At first they may have gone to the
assemblies simply because such an unusual occurrence offered at least a
change or a diversion; but a very little listening seems to have
convinced them that this woman understood the female heart far better
than did John Cotton or any other male pastor of the settlements.
Moreover, the theory of "inner light" or the "covenant of grace"
undoubtedly appealed as something novel and refreshing after the
prolonged soul fast under the harshness and intolerance of the
Calvinistic creed. The women told their women friends of the new
theories, and wives and mothers talked of the matter to husbands and
fathers until gradually a great number of men became interested. The
churches of Massachusetts Bay Colony were in imminent danger of losing
their grasp upon the people and the government. It is evident that in
the home at least the Puritan woman was not entirely the silent, meek
creature she was supposed to be; her opinions were not only heard by
husband and father but heeded with considerable respect.

And what became of this first woman leader in America? Whether the fate
of this woman was typical of what was in store for all female speakers
and women outside their place is not stated by the elders; but they were